I found this sign in the garbage on my way to work. I saw it peaking out amid other rubbish and went over to uncover it. I knew what it was because I had seen it before in the hands of its former owner while I was walking by.

Every morning I see homeless veterans on my walk to work. They stand between lanes of traffic holding signs and hoping to be seen and offered help. To see them fills me with a mix of anxiety, remorse, sadness, and embarrassment because I lack the courage to look them in the eye and speak with them.

When I saw the sign jutting out of the trash, I was drawn to it because I would finally be able to read what it said. I took the corner in my hand, shook off the surrounding refuse and unfolded and extended it up so I could read it.

Now that guilt-by-association diary has descended gracelessly off the rec list, I thought it would be helpful to catalog just how bare of truth and how packed with nonsense it was...one point at a time.

I am involved in an effort to improve the safety of school resources in my community.

While I cannot share details with you, I can tell you this effort follows at the heels of an event that has caused great harm to the members of my district, including our children.

I was considering petitioning the school board or local officials to achieve changes that will ensure safety for our children and peace of mind for all parents.

If you have experience with relevant kinds of successful local action such as petitioning or speaking out, can you please share your advice?

I wish I could offer you more details but I'm protecting the privacy of my community and affected members.

Also, I can't stick around but I will check back later and read every comment.

My sincere thanks for any wisdom you can share.

McCain haters are sure to like this glowing review of John McCain from Washington Post's David Ignatious, who surely fled to his keyboard in a swoon of inspiration after making eye contact with his manly muse.

It's titled "A Man Who Won't Sell His Soul".

There is a tendency among us liberals to embrace critics of White House policy wholesale. Maybe we feel that we need voices that likely republican voters will accept? Who knows. Like a good anti-Bush rant from known xenophobe Lou Dobbs, we like it if it hurts the Administration. As long as the clumsy grenade of opinion causes some collateral damage to Bush it was worth a fling. That's a tendency I've seen at least.

So I'm writing out of curiosity how people feel about Colin Powell's recent revelation that he knew the claims he made before the UN were false at the time he made them.

Before I get started here's a grain of salt: I didn't give much, my soapbox is only $10 tall. But this was my first political contribution and it comes at a time when I don't have a lot of money.

I wanted to share with you why I decided to give to Ned Lamont.

TO: David Brooks
CC: Angry Republicans

Mr. Brooks,

I saw you on News Hour where you had this to say:

Sitting up there on the airplane and looking out the window? That was terrible!

And the three days of doing nothing, really, on Bush was terrible.

Even today, I found myself -- and as you know, I support his policies quite often - (but I) look at him today, and earlier in the program...this is how Mark Shields must feel looking at them. I'm angry at the guy, and maybe it'll pass for me, but a lot of people, and a lot of Republicans, uh, are furious right now.

Actually, in the interest of full disclosure, I saw you in a clip from the show via crooksandliars.com, so you'll forgive me if I missed some important context to your comments.

I also read your important column, The Bursting Point, which I found to be a wise reflection on the situation.

But the thing that confused me is when you talked about the anger that you, and many other Republicans, felt towards Bush. Allow me to elaborate...

Flipping through the Nielsen Ratings I noticed a trend very dangerous for a White House worried about bad coverage. 10 of the top 20 shows in America are crime dramas. Ratings in the extended...

I'm more of a commentator than a diary writer, but I'm in disbelief that some here would consider Alberto Gonzales to be the lesser of two evils in respect to a Supreme Court nomination.

You want to talk about how your rights are at stake, fine. But I ask that you first consider the rights that our attorney general has already violated: basic human rights. If you permit yourself to look beyond these violation than you are, in essence, excusing them.